Month: December 2017

A “TEAM” from Mornington Peninsula Shire has returned from overseas with “invaluable information” to help the shire “address and respond to climate change”. Cr Simon Brooks, CEO Carl Cowie and project delivery manager Derek Rotter attended a conference in Germany, while Mr Cowie also went to Sweden and Malta.    The latest overseas by council representatives comes as the shire moves towards meeting its target of being carbon neutral by 2021. Cr Brooks and Mr Rotter went first to a conference in Essen, Germany and then were joined by Mr Cowie for a United Nations conference in Bonn. “Our team…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is urging the state government to “continue to lead the way in banning single-use plastic bags and containers in Victoria”. It has written to the Premier Daniel Andrews and energy, environment and climate change minister Lily D’Ambrosio to say it “continues to strongly support the proposed amendments to the Environment Protection Act to ban the sale of single use plastic bags”. The shire says protecting the environment and marine life is an “important initiative for Mornington Peninsula Shire”. “The ecological and environmental impact caused by the increased use of plastic bags creates a significant threat to Port…

MOST rubbish entering the bay comes from car parks and the street. So, to reduce the amount of rubbish finding its way onto the foreshore and into the water meant cleaning up street litter – especially outside shops and supermarkets. And that’s a task Rye resident Josie Jones excelled in: so much so that the graphic designer was last week awarded the Litter Prevention prize in the Keep Victoria Beautiful 2017 Tidy Towns – Sustainable Communities Awards. The presentation was made at Horsham, in the Wimmera, on Saturday 25 November. The Victorian Tidy Towns program, first run in 1983, sets…

TRAVELLING tradesmen offering discounted prices for work on the Mornington Peninsula over summer should be avoided, local police warn. Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Stephen McKenzie, of Mornington Peninsula CIU, said con artists offering cheap painting, roof repairs, driveway repairs and other similar work should be avoided. “These are people doing sub-standard work and charging considerably more than the value of the work being quoted,” he said. “Unfortunately, they are known to prey on the elderly and vulnerable, and can be very assertive, offering one-off sale prices or heavily discounted prices due to job cancellations or other reasons. “Historically, these people…

A DEAD whale found washed up at the base of the Jubilee Point cliffs at Sorrento back beach Monday 27 November will be left to rot. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Parks Victoria decided last week “after assessing all the options” to leave the Bryde’s whale where it was. “Moving a whale is a complex task and many options were discussed, including moving the whale offsite to either bury on a beach or in landfill, cutting up the carcass and even exploding [it],” DELWP spokesperson, Dan White said. “None of these were safe options as they…

THE state Liberal Party has stepped in to save plans for a memorial service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt. Mr Holt was last seen by friends on 17 December 1967 wading into the water off Cheviot Beach at Point Nepean near Portsea. Plans by the Harold Holt Memorial Committee, auspiced by the Nepean Ratepayers’ Association, for a memorial service on 17 December this year looked like being scrapped after little interest was shown by either federal, state or local governments. However, the state Liberal Party president Michael Kroger this week has sent…

At Portsea, a man was charged after two “Molotov cocktails” were allegedly thrown at a house, 1.30am, Monday 27 November. Police will allege the man and a mate followed a group of young people from a hotel to a Latham Drive house. They were refused entry to the house and returned with what police described as two “improvised incendiary devices” which they allegedly threw at the house. Neither device – said to be two beer bottles filled with accelerant – ignited. One smashed a window causing a small amount of damage but the other fell short. Sorrento CFA crews attended.…

WAYWARD schoolies may have let the heat go to their heads during rowdy gatherings on the foreshore near Rye pier on several nights last week. Sergeant Dean Matthews, of Rosebud police, said “three or four” young men had been arrested for lighting flares, minor assaults, assaulting police, resisting arrest and bringing alcohol to the foreshore. He said they may be summonsed to appear at Dromana Magistrates’ Court at a later date. Sergeant Matthews said the rowdy behaviour of between 600 and 1000 youngsters prompted police to call for back-up from Frankston and Mornington. In one instance youths were capsicum sprayed…

MORNINGTON-Flinders Rd near Baldrys Rd, Main Ridge, was closed off Monday morning 4 December after a car was found crashed into a large gum tree. The 22-year-old driver, of Frankston, was dead at the scene. Leading senior constable Greg Wolfe, of Mornington Peninsula highway patrol, said a passing motorist discovered the badly damaged Hyundai Getz at 6am. The car had been travelling north in a 100kph zone. Police later cordoned off the area. A report will be prepared for the coroner. First published  in the Western Port News – 5 December 2017